Speak
by xlovestory
Summary: Since Gabriella's father died, she hasn't uttered a word. Troy misses the bubbly, happy Gabriella he used to know. And he's going to try and get the old Gabriella back.


**Speak - A Troyella Oneshot :)**

Her body trembled as she stared at the solid, grey stone in front of her. Her breaths were heavy and she whimpered every time she breathed. She brought one finger up to the stone, shaking its way around every letter. Looking up, her heavily tear stained face took in her surroundings, this place wasn't strange to her, it was comforting. She came here almost every day.

Bringing a tissue up to her face she lightly dabbed her eyelids, feeling the moisture soak through the fabric, leaving a horrid black stain. She stretched out her legs, the pain of kneeling for so long slowly easing. Her eyes, which used to hold such hope and happiness stared blankly back at the stone, and then further to all the other stones covering this nearly deserted area. She sighed; the place of the dead.

All around her were trees and plants, their colours shining brightly for everyone to see. She supposed they were there to try and cheer people up, but it was doing nothing for her. Her fingers threaded limply through the knotted grass by her sides, before once again looking at the stone. For others it was just another person, gone in their sleep, never to return. But to her, it was her father.

More tears spurted from her eyes. She was surprised she still had enough tears to cry, but she always found them from somewhere. She missed him terribly. He was her best friend, not only her father. And even though she knew he would have wanted her to be happy, to move on, and find other people who brought her happiness, she couldn't. She just couldn't move on.

She'd lost a part of her that day, the day he died. It was like someone had taken her heart, ripped it in two, and thrown back one half, letting it land anywhere it chose. Now nobody knew her, nobody understood her, and nobody loved her, not in the way he had.

Sighing, she dragged her eyes away from the stone to look at her watch. Bringing herself to her knees, and then completely off the ground, she touched the stone for support. Leaving him was always the hardest bit, but knowing she'd come back here tomorrow gave her some relief. The tears began to pour once more as she blew a kiss to the stone, hoping he was watching her from above. Turning, she walked away, her feet dragging behind her, half of her soul left behind. The black tears were still being shed, and they showed no sign of stopping.

An elderly lady carrying flowers saw her and their eyes instantly connected. The woman saw the girl's empty eyes and at once took pity on her.

"Are you alright, dear?"

Gabriella lowered her head. The tears which loosely hung onto her eyelashes were sprayed in all directions as she shook her head. She walked past the lady, quickening her step as she went. The old woman sighed as she watched the helpless girl go.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Gabriella hunched herself into the back corner seat of the classroom. She lowered her head, her fingers making invisible patterns on the wooden desk. Even with her red raw eyes, quivering lips and messy tangled hair, to him she still looked beautiful. In front of him was a girl he'd known for years, almost since they had been born. But ever since that fateful accident they had grown apart. She'd had separated herself from everyone else, even the ones who were willing to help her, including him. He'd watched her go through so much pain and suffering, something that she still went through. Sometimes he'd just watch her; watch the tears fall down her face and her body shake. But sometimes he'd try to talk to her, which didn't work either. She hadn't spoken a word since her father died.

He believed that if you wanted to know how someone was feeling you could look in their eyes and see all the emotions they didn't put into words. But with Brie, her eyes were blank with no emotion, just pain. She was lifeless, and he knew that. All he wanted to do was help her. He knew that somewhere in that body were emotions screaming to be heard, wanting to be let out and voiced. But every day she never said a word, and the teachers didn't even try anymore. Troy sighed as he watched her bloodshot eyes lift and look around the classroom, watching everyone and everything around her. Her eyes shot to his, a questioning look on her face. 'Are you okay?', he mouthed. But he got no reply, she just looked back down again, ripping her eyes away from him and drifting back into her own painful world.

He wished he could help her out, out of the world she lived in. It was such a waste of life, her in pain, when he'd seen what she could be like; happy, excited, without another care in the world. He remembered the days he'd shared with her, ones he would never forget. For he was in love with Gabriella Montez, and would never stop trying to help her recover. He lived for the day she would smile, laugh, be joyful, and most of all speak.

From the moment he'd met her, he'd been totally mesmerised by her voice. He could nearly hear the angelic sounds in his sleep. He'd been lucky enough to meet her before she'd transferred to his school. His secret love was music, anything connected to it. Singing had always been a passion, but only his shower had been given the gift of hearing him sing. H'd joined the Albuquerque Music Camp that summer, and remembered meeting Gabriella for the first time, in one of the most awkward moments. He definitely knew he wasn't alone at not showing his secret talents.

_Flashback_

_Gabriella's fingertips hit the solid, slightly cold ivory keys on the piano. It had always amazed her that something so big ad chucky could produce such sweet calming sounds. Her head swung gently in the rhythm, the music taking over her body completely._

_It had always been a secret passions of her's, to sing. She would sing of hours and hours when she was little. But as soon as she hit the school years and her parents found her was exceptionally bright, she a was thrown into everything from science, to maths, to english. Nothing to clear her ache for music. Eight years later, and she had finally managed to wiggle her way into Music Camp, finally knowing her parents may be okay with their musical-loving daughter._

_She hummed gently, knowing that in a moment she would burst into song, the lyrics dacing around her head already. The music on her page was nothing but a bizarre arrangement of notes, nothing was set in stone. Gabriella was a strong believer in freedom of music; the right to do anything with the notes, as long at the end result is pure beauty. And that was the main reason for Gabriella locking herself in this practice room for the last three days._

_When the door jerked open suddenly, all music flowing from her creative spirit stopped abruptly, leaving a large pang of sound stray gradually from the piano. She turned around, annoyed that someone had just barged into the room, without even knocking. But then she realised that she probably would have been to lost in the notes she was playing to notice, so she turned on a fake smile._

_Her eyes connected with those of a tall boy, caramel hair dropping over one eye, the other a peircing shade of bright blue. Gabriella gasped, ashamed that her stomach was churning in circles at the mere thought of this boy. When she did this, he blushed madly, coughing to find his voice, before using it._

_"I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was open.", the boy stuttered._

_Gabriella smiled, "It's okay, I was just about to finish", putting my piece togeether she thought._

_The boy moved closer to her, until their bodies nearly touched, and Gabriella's breath hitched higher at the intense look in his eyes. He held out his had, covering her's, and she yelped inside._

_"There's no need to stop, especially when you were going to start singing."_

_Gabriella's mouth gaped open, "How...how, did you--"_

_"--I can spot these things." He finished for her. She msiled back at him, edging her hand away from his, trying her hardest to ignore the heat between them. But this boy clearly didn't want to go._

_"I'm Troy, Troy Bolton, and you are?" He persisted. _

_Gabriella turned around, collecting her various sheets of music and rolled her eyes, "Gabriella, Gabriella Montez."_

_"Gabriella." It ran off his tongue easily, and she was gorgeous. He liked that name, and it suited her. He had manaegd to work that out with only 2 minutes of knowing her. Impressive._

_"I really must go." Gabriella made for the door, but Troy caught her by the arm, stopping her. She turned around to him looking him dea in the eye as if to say 'I can go anywhere I want, you arm-grabber!'._

_He gulped at the piercing look in her eyes. "Eh, don't go on my account. Pleas stay. If you want to. I mean, what I'm trying to say is, will you help me? With my music. I've got the melody, just can't find the words."_

_Gabriella smiled, another music lover. "Of course."_

_She sat down at the piano, with him at her side, and together they shared their knowledge, wisdom, and love of music._

_End of Flashback._

It hurt him to realise that there would never be any love for anything now. When he'd met her, he could see the passion, the wanting. Now all you saw was the pain. And what did Troy want to do? Help. That's it, nothign more nothing less.

And he wasn't going to give up trying.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

If you wanted to find Gabriella all you had to do was go to the graveyard. She would always be there, sitting at her father's grave. Sometimes she would watch it, sometimes she would touch it and sometimes she would fling herself at the stone, holding on for dear life. He knew what she feared. She feared losing him; if she didn't turn up everyday and mourn, if she tried to move on, she'd feel like she was losing the only thing she had left of him, even the memories. As he walked towards her that evening, she looked small and fragile, cooped up in a ball, her hands moving rigidly over the stones rough edges.

Troy sat down beside her, but she didn't acknowledge him. She just kept rocking on the spot, her legs crossed, her arms tightly around the stone. He watched her with sad eyes for some time, before deciding to try and comfort her. He rubbed her back, the sudden comfort making her flinch. Her body turned cold, and she quickly edged away from him. He let him arm drop, feeling useless and disappointed.

"You're hurting, I know, I'm sorry."

She turned to him, tears cupped in her eyelids, not ready to fall. Turning away again, she ran her fingers over the stone, acting like he wasn't there. He sighed.

"You have to stop this Brie, it's not good for you."

He watched her hand drop from the stone, her body turn completely away from him, and start to shake. Her tears that she was desperate not to let fall had obviously started. He moved closer to her.

"I miss you Brie, the old Brie, the one that loved to sing. The one, I love."

He tried to wrap his arms around her trembling, cold body but she lifted herself up, starting to walk away, her arms cuddling her body as she took herself in the direction of home.

"He's not coming back, you know that, don't you?!"

He shouted after her and he watched in anticipation as her body slowly rounded its way to face him. It pained him to see her looking like this; so pale, so weak, so tearful, so lifeless. She dropped her arms, her hands clenching, her eyes piercing into his.

"Of course I know that, you idiot!", she managed hoarsely. Hot tears streamed down her face, her voice box slowly waking up from inside her body. "Do you think this is easy for me? Living without my father anymore! It hurts, more than you could even imagination. What gives you the right to tell me how to act, when you've never been in my position! I miss him so much, I would give my life for him to come back!" She slowly started to pace towards him, her voice startling him so much he was frozen to the spot.

She continued, her voice shaking, "I want him back, but he's not coming, and I know that! But that doesn't mean I need you to tell me. I just… miss him, so… so much."

Her body collapsed into his, and his arms threaded around her shaking body. She cried into his chest, but he didn't mind. She'd just spoken, for the first time in months. It had been good for her, to let all her emotions out, and although he'd pushed her too far, he didn't regret it.

Gabriella had learned to speak.


End file.
